


The Sacrifice of Rem

by DaireneCallahan



Category: Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:00:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaireneCallahan/pseuds/DaireneCallahan
Summary: Warning: Includes major spoilers for the upcoming Re:Zero Season 2 anime! So read at your discretion!
Kudos: 6





	1. Who is Rem?

After the defeat of the Archbishop Betelegeuse Romani-Conti of the Witch's Cult, on wagon caravan en route to the Royal Capital of Lugnica…

Emilia uttered three simple words, in perfect innocent curiosity, not knowing the full implications it would have on the boy who had just professed his love for her not an hour ago. "Who... is Rem?"

And with those words, Subaru's world shattered. No matter how he begged and pleaded, Emilia had absolutely no memory of the maid that had helped serve her for so long. She remembered Ram just fine, but insisted that she was the only maid currently at the Roswaal Mansion, confused at Subaru's panicked consternation.

Likewise, little Petra had no clue of the blue-haired maid that had visited her village and helped save her from the ma-beasts.

Even as traumatic flashbacks assaulted Subaru's horror-stricken mind, he realized the signs he'd failed to notice earlier.

After all, why had the letter he'd sent to Emilia at the Roswaal Mansion blank, as Ram had claimed? He'd personally watched Rem pen it… unless…

And why hadn't Ram mentioned or asked about Rem at all when she'd ambushed Subaru, Julius, and their troop convoy? At that point in that timeline, she wouldn't have seen Rem in several weeks, since before they had left for the capital for the start of the Royal Selection. It was… almost as if she didn't know she had a sister...

But if this had all happened before Subaru's last checkpoint at the strategy meeting to defeat Betelegeuse and the cult… did that mean… that he could no longer… no longer…

Subaru refused to continue down that train of thought. He had to get to the capital, he had to know the truth of Rem's fate.


	2. Attack of Greed and Gluttony

Many Hours Earlier...

"Thank you, Rem, for saving me, but it looks like the situation hasn't improved."

Crusch stood up and drew her sword to face the mysterious man that had destroyed several dragon carriages and slaughtered the knights within into bloody pulp- without so much as lifting a finger.

"To so cruelly murder my subjects, do not think this will end so easily. Who are you?!" Crusch demanded, narrowing her eyes and preparing her blade to strike.

The man touched his chin and began nodding, as if in understanding.

"Ah, I see, I see. Right, right. You don't know about me. But I know about you. The whole capital, actually the whole country. You were quite the topic of conversation right now.

You are a candidate for the next king, after all. Even I, so out of touch with the world, can't imagine what a great burden-"

"Idle talk ends now! Answer my question or the next time I shall slay you!" Crusch roared.

"That's really extreme. But can you really be able to run a country otherwise? Yet this sentiment, I really don't understand it one bit. This desire to wear the crown. And take up all the responsibilities. How can anyone understand it? Ah, ah, even though I don't understand, I won't disagree with you. I'm not so arrogant as that, not a bit- unlike you…"

Not paying attention to Crusch, the man just kept on and on.

"As I said, that was your last chance!" Crusch coldly pronounced, and slashed with her sword, combining her wind magic with swordsmanship. This combination produced the deadly hundred-man cut, a powerful, ultra-long-range slash that can sever a man's body without him even knowing where it came from or from whom.

Back then, when the ma-beasts Great Rabbit appeared in the Karsten County, she slew all the ma-beasts under the Great Rabbit's command during her first battle. And it was that time onward Countess Crusch Karsten earned the moniker "Hundred-Men Cut". Even the White Whale's adamant skin was opened by this blade. It had played no small part in bringing down that colossal ma-beast.

Compared to the White Whale, this small, frail body could not possibly withstand.

Yet...

"Attacking someone while they're talking, just where are your manners?" Head tilted as if flaunting how his body took no damage, the man just stood there, his existence unaffected by a slash that could rend even the White Whale's armor. The man's body, no, even his clothes, were unscathed. He did not defend against the attack, rather it was something wholly different and unknown.

Crusch could not help but hold her breath, and Rem froze in place after witnessing something so far outside the realm of understanding.

In front of them, the man sighed for the first time. "Ughhh… you know, I was talking. Wasn't I just talking right now? And then you interrupted me. Isn't that a bit impolite? Don't you think that was wrong? I have a right to speak, even though I don't really want to have to point this out, but do not interrupt people when they are speaking. Isn't that common social decency? You are free to listen or not listen, I won't bother you about that, but just what are you trying to do by not letting me talk?"

As he ranted, the man occasionally stomped the group with a displeased expression on his face. And with that, he pointed his finger at those two in front of him, both now eerily speechless.

"And now you're quiet! What is this, you were listening? You were listening, and I asked you a question. Then give me some sort of reply, it should be like that, right? You won't even do that, don't even want to… ugh, freedom, that's your freedom. You see me ranting, and you want to kill me. Then when I ask you a question, you ignore me like I'm the wing. So it's like that, is it? Well, you're free to do that. All right, let's just say it's like that… but then, what's that supposed to mean?"

Seeing the two standing in front of him, bracing for an attack, he tilted his head and stared at them with his sharp eyes, and then, with a smothered voice, whispered, "You're disregarding my right, my only few possessions, right?"

Just as a chill ran up Rem's back, the man took a step forward, his drooping arm lifted, creating a small gust of wind. Then, on the same line as the motion of his arm, the air, the earth, the world parted in two.

Round and round and round, Crusch's severed left shoulder flew into the air, still grasping onto the sheath of a knight's sword. The arm dropped down in a spray of blood.

Crusch blown off her feet by the impact, fell to the ground, convulsing in pain and massive blood loss.

"Crusch-sama!" Stunned for a few seconds, Rem rushed to the side of the fallen Crusch. She placed her hand on the knight's wound, and with a small, final remnant of her mana, applied all her power to stop the bleeding.

Crusch's flesh bled bright crimson, and the muscles, bones, nerves, and arteries were all perfectly severed. A clean and masterful attack.

Rem sighed with a rather inappropriate admiration.

"Ferris… oh, you?" Under Rem's healing, Crusch looked on with unfocused eyes, muttering indiscernibly, and with her remaining right arm, grasped tightly on Rem's knee, proving she still possessed the strength to live. Crusch clenched her teeth, enduring her pain.

Rem kept her eyes on the man's every movement- she has no means of defending against his strikes. At the first sign of an attack, to leap away with Crusch was the only thing she could do.

And in a moment of eerie realization, Rem suddenly noticed she and Crusch were all alone, for some reason. 'Why hasn't anyone come to our aid?'

In this critical juncture, with their lord gravely wounded, those knights, who did not cower even in the face of the White Whale… why?

"Oh really, I eat, I eat, and it's still not enough. It's because of that, we keep on living. Eating, chewing, biting, ripping, crunching, munching, sucking, gluttonous drinking, gluttonous eating! Ah, I'm done!" All of a sudden, from behind came the shrill, ear-splitting voice of a teenager.

Like the first man's, the youth's voice sent chills running down Rem's spine. Her body stiff, she turned to look at him.

The youth stood among the remains of several carriages. From head to toe, he was covered in blood. His long, dark, brown hair extended all the way down to his knees. His body was short, about the same height as Rem, and perhaps two or three years younger. Perhaps not much older than the kids from the village near the mansion. Under his hair, only a thin, blood-soaked rag covered his slender body. Every centimeter of his body is coated in blood- of course, none of the blood was his.

It was from the knights lying at his feet.

While Crusch and Rem were in a standoff with the man in front, the knights had engaged the enemy behind them.

In the end, before Rem even sensed any combat, it was already over.

"Y-You a-are-" Her voice quivering, Rem, with Crusch in her arms, backed up until both enemies were within her field of vision.

Blood from Crusch's shoulder had dyed the road red. Now the air turned cold, as if mocking their weakness, their fear.

Hearing the question, the man and the youth looked at each other, as if it had all been arranged.

They nodded to each other, then with the same deranged smile of violent delight, they announced their name.

"Witch Cult Sin Archbishop, Greed, Regulus Corneas!"

"Witch Cult Sin Archbishop, Gluttony, Ley Batenkaitos!"

"When we sensed our pet got killed, we came to have a look! By then...uh, what a delightful harvest! It's good, it's pretty good, it's very good, it's great, it's wonderful, it's terrific! It's breathtaking, it's remarkable, it's spectacular!" The one named Batenkaitos ranted. "The passion, love, hate, chivalry, oh, joy and sorrow! That is- that is- that is worth eating!"

"Witch Cult Sin Archbishop." When those words reached Rem's ears, she stood frozen in place.

With an exhilarated expression, the youth stomped on the ground, while howling with strange noises, spinning as if dancing, his hands pointed toward the fallen knights, and then looked at them, as if with overwhelming compassion. "How wonderful to come personally to feed! It's been really hard to find people with backbone nowadays! But now, I'm rediscovering my hunger's long-lost gratification!"

"That's what I don't understand about you," The one named Corneas chided. "Your hunger isn't even real hunger, and the one being filled isn't even you. Why can't you just be satisfied the way you are? We only truly possess what we hold in our own two hands."

"Don't get preachy old man! I don't disagree with what you said, but to be honest, as long as I don't starve, I don't really care about the rest!" Batenkaitos descended into a fit of deranged laughter.

Two Sin Archbishops appearing at the same place at the same time. Rem descended into thought- in terms of strength, defeating these two was impossible. And even though Crusch's bleeding had been stopped, she was still in critical condition. As for the knights, whether they were dead or comatose, they can no longer fight. To heal Crusch, Rem had already over-tapped her mana.

Though, if she transformed into demon mode, she would be able to absorb mana from the atmosphere and put up a fight. But… against these two, victory was inconceivable.

On one hand, was the perfect offense and defense of Greed, able to capture a city single-handedly. It is impossible to measure the full extent of his power.

On the other hand, Gluttony is no less formidable. Though his abilities are as yet, unknown, he has managed to wipe out an entire, battle-tested army within seconds.

No matter what, Rem could not see victory waiting for her in the near future. She quickly scanned the battlefield.

The Rikur Carriages were nowhere to be seen- their demihuman mercenaries were tasked with transporting wounded soldiers and the head of the White Whale. They might have escaped during the chaos, and be retreating full-speed toward the capital right now. Commanding them must be the Fang of Iron, Vice-Captain Hetaro- perhaps he will return with reinforcements.

But, even so, it will not arrive in time for Rem.

"White Whale," She muttered quietly.

"Huh?" Both Archbishops tilted their heads.

She held her breath for an instant, having found a clue to stall for time. Before they lost interest, she continued, "Did you see the back half of the White Whale? Because the head is being transported to the capital right now."

"Head? Ah, I was beginning to wonder what that weird smell was. What happened to the head doesn't matter anyway- it's dead. Sure, bring it back, what can you do? If we want to, we could always make a new one. It'll take about the same amount of time to raise." After saying this, Batenkaitos snapped his neck and ground his teeth. "Compared to a dead whale, we are more interested in the people who killed it! After four hundred years, someone finally killed that thing! Even though we were already expecting a feast, oh, this is far beyond our expectations! Love, chivalry, hatred, obsession, accomplishment, gathered together, brought to a boil, and swallowed whole! The gratification! Is there anything in the world more delicious? No, no, no, no, no, no, there isn't!"

Silently, Rem turned to face Regulus.

And Regulus waved hello. "Unfortunately, unlike him, I'm here purely on accident. Not by intention at all. Of course, do I have hungers and desires like his, to hold such selfish and meaningless desires? Unlike his unsatisfied stomach torturing him, I, on the other hand, am completely and utterly content with myself. Conflict, I hate that. For me, just enjoying the calm and comfort of regular life is enough. I have no more need than that."

A storm of boiling rage was rising in Rem's heart- they certainly were Witch Cultists. Rem lay Crusch, still faintly-breathing, down on the grassy plain.

She forced her quivering legs to stand. In her hand, she held her Morning Star. And squeezing out the final drops of her depleted mana, spears of ice formed in the air around her.

Seeing this, Ley and Regulus' expressions changed.

"Was anyone listening? I said I didn't want to fight. If you're going to take an attitude like that, that's ignoring my wishes. That's violating my right. One of the few meager possessions I was permitted to have. My property, taken from me. Me, already so few in my desires. This is unforgivable!"

"Enough is enough, Witch Cultist!" Raising her head toward Regulus, Rem pronounced these words firm and resolute. Rem rattled her iron chains threateningly at the disappointed-looking Regulus. "Sooner or later, a hero will appear! How much pain and suffering, that your self-indulgence and deceit have caused in the world will be known to that hero! Rem's deeply-beloved! One and only hero!"

"Hey, a hero! Will be looking forward to that guy!" Batenkaitos cackled. "If you believe in him that much, he must be delicious!" Clapping his hands, body angled forward, he stuck his tongue at Rem. His eyes were not the eyes of a man looking at an enemy, much less a woman, but rather the eyes of a starving beast looking at its food.

The fallen knights behind Batenkaitos began to blur and become indistinguishable, their existence, their position, none of that is now comprehensible to Rem. Why are they lying there, who are they, and what relation do they have to herself? Just like the nightmare of one's existence being erased by the White Whale's mist, so to did the Whale's master, Gluttony, possess the same Authority.

"Head Maid of the Household of Margrave Roswaal L. Mathers, Rem…" Intending to proclaim her identity, Rem shook her head. In that moment, the name she really wanted to say was. "Right now, I am only someone who is beloved by the person I love. Companion of the hero, the one I love the most in all the world. No matter what, Natsuki Subaru's companion, Rem."

A pristine, white horn emerged from her forehead. An immense surge of mana flooded into her body from the atmosphere, her body drinking in new strength, the Morning Star in her hands rattling, writhing, and the ice spears around her ringing with anticipation.

She opened her eyes, taking in the world and feeling of the atmosphere. In her mind, she was seeing his face.

"Prepare yourselves, Sin Archbishops! Rem's hero will bring punishment upon you!" Raising her Morning Star the same instant her ice spears flew, Rem's body shot forth.

As if in reply, Batenkaitos' mouth stretched wide open, full of fangs. "How wonderful! Such passion! Let's eat!"

Clash met clash, and in that instant, she thought, "I wish, when he realizes I am gone, it could cause a little ripple in his heart."

This is what Rem wished for, in her final moment.


End file.
